The novel, Under the Feet of Jesus, by Helena Maria Viramontes deals with the idea of environmental injustice and how people of low-socioeconomic status and/or of color are unfairly forced to deal, first-hand, with environmentally unsound and damaging situations, such as pesticide exposure and toxic water. In response to this phenomenon a movement called environmental justice, supported by writers such as Helena Viramontes and Rachel Carson, has taken root.
The idea of environmental justice has caused me to wonder what may be going on locally. What are the environmental justice problems facing people in my community and what is being done to combat those possible environmental injustices? I found that in Eugene there are issues concerning this problem of injustice. One such problem is caused by the transportation of coal and the hazards concerning this transportation. More specifically, as Cascade Climate Network puts it, “[coals] transportation presents significant health hazards as well. The coal passing right through downtown Eugene . . . would be transported in open bed coal trains. More than 100 tons of coal dust per train will blow off between Montana and Coos Bay. The dust contains heavy metals such as lead and mercury and causes lung diseases, as well as pollution from the diesel that fuels the trains. Regionally, the health impacts of coal follow the transportation and watershed routes.”(Stop) This is unjust because the coal contaminate would be affecting those who live near the train yard. The people who live near the train yard in West Eugene are of the marginalized, lower socio-economic class. Organizations such as No Coal Eugene and Cascade Climate Network are two examples of environmental justice organizations working to protect the safety and health of those who would be exposed to this hazardous material.
On a more positive note, Oregon was awarded a National Achievements in Environmental Justice Award by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2010, for passing senate bill 420. This bill created the Environmental Justice Task Force (EJTF). Which means that a coalition of eleven state agencies including: Agriculture, Environmental Quality, and Fish & Wildlife among others; are participating the Task Force which, “reports annually to the Governor, detailing the progress of natural resource agencies toward achieving the environmental justice goals outlined in Senate Bill 420.” (Environmental) The bill pretty much says that the established task force must help to make decisions regarding possible environmental injustice and bring attention to actions that would or could affect low-income and minority citizens of Oregon. If you’d like to read the bill, here’s a link to its PDF: http://www.oregon.gov/gov/GNRO/docs/enrolled-senatebill420.pdf. That Oregon has passed legislation opposed to environmental injustice is a step in the right direction, and although those injustices may still occur (as in the transportation of toxins through lower-income neighborhoods) at least we have an organization that will potentially help us to combat such injustices. Also we have other organizations at our disposal that will bring these issues to our attention. Authors who bring environmental injustice to light are partly responsible for this response; they can help shed light on situations that are not just.
“Environmental Justice Task Force.” Oregon.gov. State of Oregon, 16 Dec. 2011. Web. 14 Nov. 2012.
“Stop Coal Trains, Bring Climate Justice to Eugene.” Cascade Climate Network. Cascade Climate Network, 16 Apr. 2012. Web. 14 Nov. 2012.
This was an interesting read. I had no idea that there was this problem with coal transportation in Eugene, but I am not surprised that there would be an Environmental Justice Task Force to keep these kinds of things from happening. These types of issues have to be dealt with somehow because it isn’t fair to the lower class people who live in the area where the coal passes through. I think that creating these types of organizations is necessary in today’s world and Eugene definitely is headed towards the right direction in preventing environmental injustice.
Thanks for an informative post and for highlighting these local environmental justice groups. If you are interested another organization worth checking out is Beyond Toxics, a local environmental justice group (http://www.beyondtoxics.org/). Beyond Toxics works to ensure environmental health and toxic free communities for all Eugene residents. They have various campaigns, including an Environmental Justice Toxics Bus Tour, part of their West Eugene Industrial Corridor Environmental Health Project: http://www.beyondtoxics.org/work/environmental-justice-2/environmental-justice-tour-april-2012/
Here’s a description from their website:
“The environmental issue that we seek to address is air pollution from industrial and transportation sources in the Industrial Corridor of West Eugene, an area that is home to higher densities of low-income residents, many of whom are Latino families. According to the EPA EnviroMapper, fifty air and toxic release sites and two Superfund sites are listed within the nine square mile area of West Eugene. The Eugene-Springfield metropolitan area is located at the southern end of Oregon’s Willamette Valley. The area is dubbed ‘the toe of the sock’ because it is cupped by mountains on the south, east and west sides. Frequent air stagnations caused by topographical barriers and wind patterns result in the accumulation of local pollution and wind-borne air pollution from other larger metropolitan areas up the valley (Portland-Beaverton and Salem-Keizer).”
I think it is important to do what we can to help in our own community. I had no idea about the environmental justice problems that people in Eugene are facing today until I read this post. It is important to be conscience about these types of things, so we know what needs to be done and can be done in order to put and end to these environmental injustices. I also like how you touched on what Oregon is currently doing to help these problems.
Environmental justice is a problem in our community. In fact, there is an EPA Super-site down in Cottage Grove where they are covering incidents that are caused by coal by-products. I covered this event for my high schools newspaper. Especially in Eugene many people are using all of their energy and resources to make sure the ideology of environmental justice is upheld.
I found your post to be really eye-opening! I was unaware that we had a special task force which mediates environmental injustice in Oregon. That is really awesome and shows progress in our fight for environmental justice. Great post!